Monday, August 28, 2017

Monday, August 28, 2017 –
The lazy Dog Days of Summer have been anything but for investors. Stock indexes were on the road to
recovery early last week possibly from the celestial effects of the Solar
Eclipse that captivated the nation’s attention. The market then
sold off on concerns of the departure of key White House staff but nevertheless
ended the week on a slightly higher level. US Benchmarks ended up with the
S&P 500 closing at +.72% for the week to 2,443.05 and the Russell 2000
rising 1.45% to 1,377.45. The tech heavy Nasdaq Composite rose in line with the
S&P 500 by a +.79% to 6,265.64. Investors continue to bet on Tax Reform
this Fall and continued deregulation by Presidential directives.

Sunday night it became apparent
that the flooding from the Hurricane Harvey that hit Southeast Texas over the
weekend was “unprecedented and all impacts are unknown and beyond anything
experienced” according to the US National Weather Service. Consequently,
potential loss of life, dislocations of people, property and infrastructure damage
will likely be significant as those from Katrina and Sandy. The direct and
collateral damage of Harvey will not be known until later this week. Financial
Markets will reflect the consequences of the damage particularly around the
Houston Metropolitan Area and coastal gas refineries.

While September was already
looking to be an exciting month to watch cable news with political haggling
over raising the deficit ceiling and threats of government shutdowns – which have
proven to be short-lived trading opportunities, this time is likely to be different thanks to Harvey.

Why? First, the reserves of the
national flood insurance fund are likely to prove inadequate to cover claims. This
will open the debate of increasing deficit spending to bail out the fund. This is likely to fan the debate of
climate change and whether taxpayers should bear the bill of rebuilding residences
and businesses along the coastal areas. Also, expect damage to crops and
refineries all of which will take the form of higher soft commodity and gas
prices – as early as Monday morning. So look for the inflation rate to increase,
but not for long hopeful reasons like wage inflation. The scale necessary to
rebuild the region is likely to make the Fed think twice about rising interest
rates due to the short term regional slowdown in economic activity resulting from
the damages due to Harvey.

A search of “politics of natural
disasters” brings up a considerable number of studies both in the US and
internationally of how unforeseen disasters have a way of affecting politics, in
particular, having negative consequences for those in office. We need to look
no further than the effect of Katrina on the Bush Administration although Trump
appears to be trying to get ahead of the situation.

The need to authorize spending for
a big infrastructure projects should become inevitable as there will be plenty
of “shovel ready projects.” Discussion about tax cuts was on the September
agenda but could get pushed back in wake of the need to immediately address
rebuilding concerns. Ready your popcorn and favorite beverage and tune into
your favorite cable news channel to see how this unfolds.

We continue to favor the Reflation
trade on the expectations of tax cuts and big infrastructure spending. If
anything, the damage from Harvey will eventually accelerate this trajectory if
reason prevails in Washington. The continued decline of the USD from its highs
since December could give investors with foreign ETFs a double reward, rising
equity prices and an FX kicker as well.

Our ETFG Quant Score list based upon Friday’s closing data does not yet
reflect the effects of Harvey, so we suggest checking the daily movers list as
the week progresses for new ratings. We favor infrastructure plays, energy and
foreign markets.

Looking at our Weekly % Movers list, we see IEQ and
HAP as energy/commodity plays moving up in ratings as well as a good selection
of foreign ETFs such as BRAQ, EUFN, EWT, and QEMM. Looking at our Select List, for Energy ERGF,
EMLP, CRAK, MLPA, PXI are attractive in ratings in their respective sector. Others
we think are likely to benefit are XTN, INDF in the Transportation Sector, MATF
and JHMA in Materials, INDF in Industrials and FTRJ, FTAG, NFRA and TOLR in
Natural Resources.

We suggest looking over the Quant
Movers % Daily when big events occur that affect financial markets to zero in
on attractive plays and sudden changes in our ratings outlook.

Assumptions,
opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material
and are subject to change without notice. ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its
affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers,
shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee
the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information, including
ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions or for
the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties shall
have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein,
regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such
information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. In no event shall ETFG Parties
be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary,
compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses,
legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost
profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information
contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are
expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or
sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and
rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business
decision. ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of
any security. ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment
advisor. While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to
be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due
diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or
sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial
instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all
investors. Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are
subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of
their issue. Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments
mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the
investor may get back less than the amount invested. Where an investment
is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of
income that the investor will receive from such an investment may
fluctuate. Where an investment or security is denominated in a different
currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange
may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that
investment to the investor.

Monday, August 21, 2017

Monday, August 21,
2017 - Stock indexes were on the road to recovery last week and then sold
off when the President’s comments on the previous week’s violent protests
appeared to justify the actions of the “very fine people” of the Alt Right in
Charlottesville. Such praise of particular groups has been off limits for
traditional politicians for decades. The comments further caught GOP members
off guard in what typically would be the slow dog days of summer as public
opinion reaction gathered momentum leading to business leaders abandoning
Advisory Boards. Culminating the week was the surprise resignation of Trump’s
senior political advisor and campaign strategist, Steve Bannon. New terrorist
attacks in Spain, and concerns regarding future actions by the Federal Reserve
and the European Central Bank added fuel to the turmoil. While presidential
decrees reducing government regulations continue to be issued by POTUS,
investors increasingly question if big ticket items like tax cuts,
infrastructure spending and health care reforms can be accomplished in this
politically charged environment.

US Benchmarks ended down with the S&P 500 closing down
.65% for the week to 2,425.55 and the Russell 2000 dropping 1.20% to 1,357.79. The
tech heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped in line with the S&P 500 by a minus
.64% to 6216.53. Nevertheless the equity markets remain resilient despite
increasingly political uncertainty in Washington.

One thing we found of interest was the Rise of the
Benchmark (Indexes) as show in the graph below. Due to the rise of ETFs, cheap internet
trading and the decline of the number of publicly traded firms, indexes now outnumber
publicly listed companies! It seems to
us that the consequences of this are little known which is why astute investors
are wise to note the particularities of
the construction of the indexes that serve as the portfolio of the ETFs that
they trade – something that we here at ETFG have been saying for some time
and plan to provide you with more information on this soon. Indexes on, for example. a particular theme
or sector can vary considerably.

Nevertheless , we continue to favor the Reflation trade
continue to believe that the animal spirits unleashed by the excitement of the
GOP denominating the WH, Congress and Senate are alive and we would not leave
the party yet, although some caution is warranted. The continued decline of the
USD off its highs since December could give investors with foreign ETFs a
double reward, rising equity prices and a FX kicker as well.

Our Quant Score list shows several of the weekly movers
are funds focusing dividends: SDY, JHDG,
SDIV, FPE, and IQDE. Our Equity Select
List shows ETFs with scores of 70 or better to have an overseas flavor: FNI, EWY, PGI, EWH, FXI, EWU, EDOM and
AADR. This indicates that value has
shifted to overseas markets from well performing US markets. Energy and Tech ETFs continue to score high
as evidenced by CRAK, OIH and TCHF, KWEB, & XITR.

We suggest looking over the Quant Movers Daily and Weekly
% Movers to zero in on attractive plays and sudden changes in our ratings
outlook.

Assumptions,
opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material
and are subject to change without notice. ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its
affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers,
shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee
the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information,
including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions
or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties
shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein,
regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such
information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. In no event shall ETFG Parties
be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary,
compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses,
legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost
profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information
contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are
expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or
sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and
rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business
decision. ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any
security. ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment
advisor. While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to
be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due
diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or
sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial
instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.
Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change
without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their
issue. Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments
mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the
investor may get back less than the amount invested. Where an investment
is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of
income that the investor will receive from such an investment may
fluctuate. Where an investment or security is denominated in a different
currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange
may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that
investment to the investor.

Wednesday, August 16, 2017

Wednesday,
August 16, 2017 - New-to-Market: This blog series
highlights ETFs that have recently gone public and reflect those strategies
currently most in demand by investors. While ETFs are not eligible for ETFG
Risk Ratings until traded for 3 months and ETFG Reward Ratings for 12 months,
our goal is to highlight cutting-edge investment strategies that have recently
embraced the ETF structure – we hope you enjoy this special series of posts!

With over 2,000 ETPs listed in the US with nearly $3
trillion in AUM, it’s easy to think that almost every unique trade strategy has
a product tied to it, but, the truth is that innovative products are often hard
to find. The industry has come a long way from the standard index replicators;
the strategic funds formerly known as “smart beta” have soaked up billions in
new assets this year while social impact and multi-factor ETPs are all the
rage. There was even a short period of time where 4x funds looked like the
coming thing, but it seems that most new funds are simply variations on an
existing theme; a different index here or an alternative weighting system
there.

A number of the ETPs on our list of recently launched products
stood out to us, but one in particular, the Virtus Enhanced Short U.S.
Equity ETF (VESH)
might serve one of the most challenged segments of the ETP markets. Eight years
into the second-longest lived bull market in history has made short selling
less a “lonely” activity and more “suicidal” as tacking against the euphoria
has generally been a career killer, leaving only a handful of funds for
investors to choose from. Our database has 138 inverse products with a total
AUM of almost $20B and excluding the levered ETPs, intended for short-term
protection, brings the list down to 57 products with a total AUM of just $6.5B.
Looking at funds that only give you exposure to the equity market, reduces the
list of ETPs even further to only 26 leaving to risk-conscious investors
decidedly lacking in options.

The Virtus Enhanced Short U.S. Equity ETF (VESH) does things a little
differently than most of the existing inverse equity ETPs in two unique ways.
Levered or not, nearly all of the inverse equity products are passive funds
that track specific, well-known market cap based indexes except for the
AdvisorShares Ranger Equity Bear ETF (HDGE), an actively
managed product that shorts individual equity names based on bottoms-up stock
research.

While VESH
is also actively managed, it’s strategy is ‘rules-based’ and more in-line with
its passive kin but while employing a more nuanced strategy than larger inverse
funds. In fact, if those rules were wrapped into an index that went long
instead of short, VESH
would look more like a strategic beta fund that did sector positioning based on
the popular momentum factor than anything else, except its focus is obviously
on negative rather than positive momentum.

Bringing strategic beta to the world of inverse ETPs
might seem like simple evolution but Virtus has long been in the forefront of
bringing the best of academia to the market. In most of the academic research
around factor investing, researchers use market neutral strategies to test the
viability of the factor which involves taking both long and short positions
based on the factor being tested. Up until now, most ETPs have only used the
long side of that research given that most investors, big or small, are typically
only interested in long exposure. Recognizing an underserved market, Virtus has
taken the unique position of giving investors exposure to the other side of the
research in that short portfolio to produce potentially more symmetrical
returns.

Launched in late June of this year, Virtus brought the
fund to the market with a simple goal; outperforming 100% of the total return
of the S&P 500 Index and it does so by recognizing that, in the eyes of
investors, not all sectors of the market are created equal. First, investors
need to recognize that the fund is essentially two strategies rolled into one,
with 50% in a monthly rebalanced short position against the S&P 500 while
the remaining 50% is built around a sector rotation strategy, perhaps one of
the most common and easily recognized investment strategies used by investment
professionals. Rather than focusing on individual names like HDGE, at the end
of each month, the GICS sectors comprising the index are ranked by their
trailing 9-month returns with the 5 worst performing sectors being identified
to be sold short using futures contracts removing the nonsystematic risk of
individual stocks while simultaneously embracing a more contemporary strategy.

While the newly launched fund lacks a track record, it’s
easy to see the potential advantages of such a strategy, especially in a market
like we find ourselves in where even a 5% correction has become a distant
memory. While the 50% of the portfolio invested in short S&P futures should
help traders focused on hedging by keeping the fund in-line with the broader
market, the other half focused on specific underperforming sectors could
potentially reduce the drag of an inverse position on a broader portfolio in a
rising market.

Even in a year like 2017, there remains a wide degree of
dispersion between sector returns with energy stocks deep in the red while real
estate and consumer staples names continue to lag the broader market by
hundreds of basis points. This dynamic, in part, helped VESH narrow its loss in its
first full month of trading with a 1.17% loss in July compared to a -1.91%
return for the unlevered ProShares Short S&P 500 Fund (SH).

But it’s also easy to imagine how that could quickly lead
to investors finding themselves with large, unintentional sector wagers as most
of 2017’s laggards are in the smaller subsectors of the market. Energy stocks
may be the biggest losers this year but make up less than 6% of the market
while real estate and consumer staples stocks, the next two worst performing
sectors, make up 3.5% and 8.5% of the market respectively. To keep that from
happening, the short positions are weighted proportional to how much they make
up of the S&P 500. In its first full
month of trading, VESH
was short all three of the above sectors along with healthcare and utility
stocks and while investors might have wished for more energy exposure, the
fund’s rules based weighting system kept the allocation just under 8% of the
total fund.

The other thing that VESH does differently than most
inverse products is that it doesn’t have the daily reset that SWAP based
products contain. The daily reset that SWAPs go through is what causes the
divergence between their expected daily return target and their longer time
frame returns. This reset compounds daily moves. Using fully collateralized
futures positions that are rebalanced on a monthly basis, Virtus is trying to
provide a product that can be held for a longer time frame while minimizing any
divergence between the product and its target exposure of outperforming -100%
of the total return of the S&P 500 Index.

Finally, while the product is actively managed, it also
has a relatively low management fee of 55 bps. This puts the product closer to
the majority of long-only, passive strategic beta funds rather than existing
short strategies which usually come with a higher price tag. In fact, VESH’s 55
bps fee is substantially below both actively managed HDGE (175 bps) or passive
funds like SH at 89 bps, which significantly reduces the potential cost for
those more anxious investors to hedge their equity exposure.

So even if the broader market’s relatively flat
performance, despite a summer of perpetual crisis in Washington and sabre
rattling overseas, has some wondering whether we’ve reached a new “permanently
high plateau,” know that a firm at the cutting edge of investment research has
used the lessons of strategic beta to bring the first truly innovative inverse
product to a market that might soon desperately need one.

Assumptions,
opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material
and are subject to change without notice. ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its
affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers,
shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee
the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information,
including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions
or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties
shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein,
regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such
information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. In no event shall ETFG Parties
be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary,
compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses,
legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost
profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information
contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are
expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or
sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and
rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business
decision. ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of any
security. ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment
advisor. While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to
be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due
diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or
sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial
instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all investors.
Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are subject to change
without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of their
issue. Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments
mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the
investor may get back less than the amount invested. Where an investment
is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of
income that the investor will receive from such an investment may
fluctuate. Where an investment or security is denominated in a different
currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange
may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that
investment to the investor.

Monday, August 14, 2017

Monday, August 14, 2017 - The global markets were met
with Fire and Fury this week as political tensions between the US and North
Korea continued to escalate. Major indexes closed mostly down for the week as corporate
earnings and employment reports took a back seat in the news due to the
rhetoric that North Korean Dictator Kim Jong Un and President Donald Trump have
been spewing back and forth to one another.

The
Dow Jones and Nasdaq finished off about 100 points each and the S&P 500
about 30 even after they pared their low points of the week with a day in the
green on Friday. The political fears were not only seen by overall market
prices dropping but also in the VIX index, which is used as Wall Street’s fear
gauge by many. It surged over 62% this week alone and hit levels that were last
seen in November during the presidential election.

We
will see how the markets will continue to react to the geo-political tensions
and now some new ones domestically here in the United States with major
protests in Virginia breaking out over the weekend. One thing is for sure,
there is only so much straw that you can place on the camel’s back before you
break it. When will the finally straw finally fall?

Assumptions,
opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material
and are subject to change without notice. ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its
affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers,
shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee
the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information,
including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions
or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties
shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein,
regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such
information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. In no event shall ETFG Parties
be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary,
compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses,
legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost
profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information
contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are
expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or
sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and
rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business
decision. ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of
any security. ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment
advisor. While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to
be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due
diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or
sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial
instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all
investors. Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are
subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of
their issue. Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments
mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the
investor may get back less than the amount invested. Where an investment
is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of
income that the investor will receive from such an investment may fluctuate.
Where an investment or security is denominated in a different currency to the
investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange may have an
adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that investment to the
investor.

Monday, August 7, 2017

Monday, August 7, 2017 - The beginning of 2017 brought
some hot topics to the forefront. In the political world, it was if
President-Elect Donald Trump could live up to his promises as the new Commander-in-Chief,
that discussion is ongoing and will be for years. In the financial world,
it was whether the Dow Jones Industrial Average could eclipse the 20,000 mark and
more importantly hold its ground there. That topic of discussion ended quickly
and only 8 months later, there is talk of Dow 25,000.

As
markets continue to move higher, they are being supported more by corporate
earnings rather than shifting changes to our economic policies, which many thought would drive the markets, i.e., the Trump Trade. This week, big
tech was what helped bring the Dow over 22k as Apple reported strong earnings and
added 49 points to the blue chip index on Wednesday.

Apple
also helped moved some ETFs higher, like the Technology Select Sector SPDR
Fund (XLK), which closed at 57.61 on Friday, a level that the fund hasn’t
seen since 2000. XLK is heavily weighted with Apple as it makes up for 14.73%
of the fund which has a total of 87 holdings. The iShares U.S. Technology ETF (IYW)
which has the largest overall allocation to Apple in any fund, 17.18%, reached
all-time highs this week for the same reason as it closed at 145.96 on August 1
(it closed the week out at 145.90.)

Assumptions,
opinions and estimates constitute our judgment as of the date of this material
and are subject to change without notice. ETF Global LLC (“ETFG”) and its
affiliates and any third-party providers, as well as their directors, officers,
shareholders, employees or agents (collectively ETFG Parties) do not guarantee
the accuracy, completeness, adequacy or timeliness of any information,
including ratings and rankings and are not responsible for errors and omissions
or for the results obtained from the use of such information and ETFG Parties
shall have no liability for any errors, omissions, or interruptions therein,
regardless of the cause, or for the results obtained from the use of such
information. ETFG PARTIES DISCLAIM ANY AND ALL EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES,
INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, SUITABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE. In no event shall ETFG Parties
be liable to any party for any direct, indirect, incidental, exemplary,
compensatory, punitive, special or consequential damages, costs, expenses,
legal fees, or losses (including, without limitation, lost income or lost
profits and opportunity costs) in connection with any use of the information
contained in this document even if advised of the possibility of such damages.

ETFG ratings and rankings are statements of opinion as of the date they are
expressed and not statements of fact or recommendations to purchase, hold, or
sell any securities or to make any investment decisions. ETFG ratings and
rankings should not be relied on when making any investment or other business
decision. ETFG’s opinions and analyses do not address the suitability of
any security. ETFG does not act as a fiduciary or an investment
advisor. While ETFG has obtained information from sources they believe to
be reliable, ETFG does not perform an audit or undertake any duty of due
diligence or independent verification of any information it receives.

This material is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or
sale of any security or other financial instrument. Securities, financial
instruments or strategies mentioned herein may not be suitable for all
investors. Any opinions expressed herein are given in good faith, are
subject to change without notice, and are only correct as of the stated date of
their issue. Prices, values, or income from any securities or investments
mentioned in this report may fall against the interests of the investor and the
investor may get back less than the amount invested. Where an investment
is described as being likely to yield income, please note that the amount of
income that the investor will receive from such an investment may
fluctuate. Where an investment or security is denominated in a different
currency to the investor's currency of reference, changes in rates of exchange
may have an adverse effect on the value, price or income of or from that
investment to the investor.